Basic Terms of Discourse for Film Analysis

Genre - Form or type of film. Different genres have different stylistic conventions that should be taken into consideration.

Diegesis - The diegesis includes objects, events, spaces and the characters that inhabit them, including things, actions, and attitudes not explicitly presented in the film but inferred by the audience. That audience constructs a diegetic world from the material presented in a narrative film.

Shot - A single stream of images, uninterrupted by editing. The shot can use a static or a mobile framing, a standard or a non-standardframe rate, but it must be continuous.

Scene/Sequence - A scene is a segment of a narrative film that usually takes place in a single time and place, often with the same characters. Sometimes a single scene may contain two lines of action, occurring in different spaces or even different times, that are related by means of crosscutting. Scene and sequence can usually be used interchangeably, though the latter term can also refer to a longer segment of film that does not obey the spatial and temporal unities of a single scene. For example, a montage sequence that shows in a few shots a process that occurs over a period of time.

Storyboard for North by Northwest

Alfred Hitchcock, renown for his thrillers and horror films, is also well known for his careful planning of shots and scenes. Taken together the storyboard outlines the iconic sequence depicted above.

Major Classifications of Film Technique

Mise-en-scène:Refers to the note-worthy details of the frame and is a French expression that means all the things that are "put in the scene": the setting, the decor, the lighting, the costumes, the performance etc. Narrative films often manipulate the elements of mise-en-scene, such as decor, costume, and acting to intensify or undermine the ostensible significance of a particular scene.

Décor, Acting, Staging, & Costume - The costume and presentation of the characters leaves a lot of room for inference because of the contrast of color created by the juxtaposition of these characters and their costumes, posture, and performances

Lighting (Three-Point, High-Key, Low-Key, & Ambient). Lighting can be manipulated to enhance the film's tone or to color the mood of an individual scene.

Space(Deep/Shallow) -Orson Welles was a master of presenting complex shots with multiple planes in sharp, deep focus. In this shot the men in the foreground discuss the fate of the protagonist, Charles Foster Kane, who is appears small and ineffectual in the background. The way space is used amplifies the emotional impact of the shot.

Citizen Kane

Editing: Is the sequencing of shots to create a diegesis in narrative film or to create a dominant impression/to reinforce an argument in documentary film. The editing rate or rhythm can be fast or slow depending upon the length of shots and how quickly the filmmaker transitions from one shot to the next. Most films relate narrative through the more conventional continuity editing style, which creates the illusion of continuous action through matches on form or action, but montage, which creates third meaning in the mind of the viewer with a collision of images created by juxtaposition, can provide a more striking visual commentary on the subject at hand.